


A Time for Celebration

by Trexi



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Gen, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 22:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21234578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trexi/pseuds/Trexi
Summary: Arthur can’t understand why his people want to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his coronation, especially when it’s the week that claimed both his parents’ lives. Merlin tries to explain.





	A Time for Celebration

I’m not sure what it says about Merlin that he doesn’t flinch when a goblet slams into the door a hair’s breadth from his head. He merely gives me his ‘you’re being a prat again’ look and catches the next goblet thrown his way. I eye the pitcher on my desk instead of risking eye contact with my manservant who knows me far too well for my liking. If I throw the pitcher filled with wine, it’ll take Merlin ages to clean up the mess. He might choose to interrogate me while performing his duties though. It wouldn’t be the first time Merlin used acting as a competent servant to catch me off guard.

“You dismissed for the night,” I say.

I don’t need to look up to know a defiant expression has settled on Merlin’s face.

“What’s the matter, Arthur?”

“I’m the King. You should address me by–”

“Apologies, _sire_,” Merlin interrupts. “How dare I forget propriety for a moment? I must’ve been distracted by the King of Camelot hiding in his chambers and acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum when he should be in the Throne Room still attending the celebration Gwen and I painstakingly organised for the anniversary of his coronation.”

“I never asked that of you,” I snap, finally looking away from the pitcher in favour of glaring at my manservant.

“No, but you also didn’t ask that we not do it after receiving dozens of petitions from your people that we hold the celebration,” Merlin points out dryly. “I’m sure if they saw how their King was acting now, they wouldn’t be so eager to celebrate you, but I suppose that _honour_ is something only I will experience.”

“I don’t understand!”

Merlin crosses his arms. “That much is obvious. Do you care to clarify, _sire_, or would you like me to somehow read your mind? I’m quite sure that would be a form of magic though, so you’ll have to run me through if I manage it.”

“I’m not going to run you through, Merlin.”

“That’s a relief, but it doesn’t answer what you don’t understand, Arthur.”

I sigh. “I don’t understand why people are celebrating.”

“You were coronated a year ago,” Merlin says slowly, like I’ve missed the complete obvious.

“I know _that_.”

“That’s good. I was getting worried you’d gotten replaced by some sort of changeling, and that I’d have to interrogate you on where the true Arthur Pendragon is. It’d be a shame to scrub bloodstains out of this floor again. I’ve only just managed to get the last one out.”

“I thought that was wine!”

Merlin smiles. “Oh, it was. There just happened to be a rather big bloodstain under the wine stain. Don’t worry. I used that variety you hate being brought out at feasts instead of any of the good ones.”

“You purposely wasted wine to cover up a bloodstain?” I pause. “How exactly did the blood end up in my chambers?”

“The real question here is why you seem to be confused at people wanting to celebrate your coronation.”

It’s a diversion. I know it’s a diversion. But I can always come back to the bloodstain later.

“It’s like they all forget that my mother died because I was born, and that I’m only King because my father took a mortal wound meant for me. This week is the anniversary of both their deaths, yet the kingdom wants to celebrate?”

“The people need hope, Arthur,” Merlin says. “They need a day when they can believe that despite everything else, there is hope for a better future. You are that hope to them. And they want to celebrate that; they want to celebrate you.”

“But I’m nowhere near the King my father was.”

Merlin shakes his head like I’ve said something particularly foolish. “Nobody expects you to be your father. If you were a copy of Uther Pendragon, I would’ve left Camelot years ago.” I open my mouth to protest, but Merlin continues before I can. “You, Arthur, you inspire hope. You make the people around you want to be loyal to you, not out of fear, but out of a sense of duty. They see you, and they know that you’ll do whatever you can for the sake of Camelot. You father was a good king, even if I disagree with a lot of things that he did. But you, you’re great. You’re Camelot’s hope for a Golden Age. You care about peace and justice over tradition. You’re not afraid to do what is right over what is easy. That’s why the people are celebrating. They are proud to have you as their King.”

“Can’t they be proud another day,” I ask, trying not to sound like a petulant child, but the indulgent look Merlin gives me makes me feel like one regardless.

“Nobody said you had to celebrate, Arthur. If anything, seeing that you actually have emotions and are sad on the anniversary of your parents’ deaths will just endear you to your people even more.”

I fold my arms. “I don’t want to be _endeared _to them. I want them to respect me.”

“Why can’t it be both?” Merlin asks.

Because I don’t deserve it. But Merlin would never accept that. For all that he can be one of the most disrespectful servants in Camelot, no, in all of Albion, he would never accept me believing that I don’t deserve whatever my people are willing to offer me. He’d simply insist that I do and leave it that. If I so much as thought otherwise again, I’m sure he’d find some bizarre way to distract me from my thoughts. He always does. Maybe it’s Merlin who I don’t deserve. I certainly don’t remember what I could’ve done to garner such unending loyalty from the man.

Perhaps that doesn’t matter. It only matters that I have it, and I have no intention of squandering it.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's your friendly reminder that the anniversaries of Yrgaine's death, Arthur's birth, Uther's death, and Arthur's coronation are all in the same week.


End file.
